Oh great it's another Dreamworks sequel. Oh wait this is a Dreamworks sequel that I actually liked. I was at first skeptical to see the return of awesomeness knowing past Dreamworks sequels like Shrek the Third (2007) and Madagascar; Escape to Africa (2008), but the return of the lovable Panda Po made me rather pleased with a Dreamworks sequel that's not primarily trying to make money but instead tell a great followup to the 2008 blockbuster Kung Fu Panda. So boys and girls get ready for my review of Kung Fu Panda 2, the return of awesomeness.
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| Pure Awesomeness! |
Following his ascension to the legendary Dragon Warrior, Po (Jack Black) is now working with the furious five to defend the Valley of Peace from danger. Po's life is going smoothly until he faces two shocking surprises. An evil peacock named Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) is planning on taking over China by using a weapon that can destroy Kung Fu, and that Po was apparently adopted (that really isn't so surprising). Po along with the Furious Five must journey across China to stop Lord Shen from destroying the noble art of Kung Fu and Po must face the horrors of his cloudy past if he is to attain inner peace and save China.
Kung Fu Panda 2 was a very fun movie. It had an excellent cast of characters, a good story, and animation that is triple that of its predecessor. If you compare Dreamworks to Pixar, Pixar almost always wins with sequels, especially after Toy Story 3 received a Best Picture nomination last year. But Dreamworks has matured a bit now with How to train your Dragon (2010) and now Kung Fu Panda 2. Kung Fu Panda 2 is not at all like the lesser Shrek sequels because its not trying to rip off or reference anything that really has nothing to do with the theme of the film, instead most if not all the references and ideas of this movie have something to do with Chinese culture or jack Blacks lovable sense of humour.
Like I said before the animation for this sequel is thrice what the first Kung Fu Panda was. There are many detailed explosions in this movie most of which come from fireworks. In the past an explosion or an instant in animation that has a lot of detail was very hard to pull off but Dreamworks is able to take every advantage they can to show a film that has no reason to be cheap or lazy with their animation. Its not just the 3D that's good in this movie but it also implies good hand drawn animation. A prime example is shown through the opening sequence with Chinese puppetry, which in itself has good detail and beauty.
Most of the cast is back and in my humble opinion Jack Black has more emotion as Po than he had before. He's faced with an even bigger challenge than becoming a Kung Fu Master, attaining inner peace when he is under the great pressure of his origins. We mostly know Jack Black as the funny guy but he does have a sensitive and serious side seen before but is still able to stay lovable and childlike in whatever situation he is in if you don't count King Kong (2005).
We also see that Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five, especially Tigress (Angelina Jolie) have learned to be more at peace with themselves, show more emotion or have learned to lighten up a bit more compered to the last film. Tigress especially is shown to be more lighthearted and caring towards Po. This is shown several times throughout the film when she has a heart to heart talk with Po and later comforts and protects him from facing Lord Shen. Hoffman and the rest of the furious five play their roles just as well as they did before but add either more tranquility to their performance or more humour which doesn't harm the movie at all. Our villain Lord Shen is played by Gary Oldman and I thought he made an excellent cold villain with a burning hatred deep in his feathered heart. He was animated far beyond what I expected Dreamworks or even Pixar to accomplish in. My only complaint about Kung Fu Panda 2 is that I thought they could have spent a bit more time with Dustin Hoffmans character to see how well he really is recovering from his problems in the last film.
So Kung Fu Panda 2 is defiantly a worth while sequel. It's a strong follow up to the original with the same lovable characters from the original and some fresh new characters that can be praised just as much. Animations good, story is good and overall its the best sequel Dreamworks has ever made and I hope that they keep making their sequels like this because that could very well make them equal to that of Pixar or more in the future.
My Rating: 3.5/4 Shamrocks.
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